# Developing with flox

**URL:** https://discourse.flox.dev/c/developing-with-flox/7.md

[Latest](https://discourse.flox.dev/latest.md) · [Categories](https://discourse.flox.dev/categories.md) · [Tags](https://discourse.flox.dev/tags.md)

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## [About the Developing with flox category](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/about-the-developing-with-flox-category/33)

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**Author:** [@limeytexan](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/limeytexan)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [November 11, 2020, 2:25pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/about-the-developing-with-flox-category/33 "2020-11-11T14:25:57Z")

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Ask for assistance with package development, the flox command line interface, and Nix expressions. We’ll try to answer your questions and help you debug your problems ASAP. Some general guidelines for posting: Search…

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## [Solved: starship prompt](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/solved-starship-prompt/1230)

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**Author:** [@etorreborre](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/etorreborre)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [February 13, 2026, 9:59am UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/solved-starship-prompt/1230 "2026-02-13T09:59:41Z")

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This is an update on an older issue. Nowadays you need to set export \_FLOX\_SET\_PROMPT=false to make sure that your starship prompt will be properly displayed when an environment is activated.

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## [Setup Azure CLI Extensions with Flox?](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/setup-azure-cli-extensions-with-flox/1166)

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**Author:** [@sheeeng](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/sheeeng)\
**Replies:** 1\
**Last updated:** [August 18, 2025, 10:57am UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/setup-azure-cli-extensions-with-flox/1166 "2025-08-18T10:57:06Z")

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Using regular Nix, we can setup Azure CLI Extensions properly. pkgs.azure-cli.override { withExtensions = with pkgs.azure-cli-extensions; \[ account aks-preview bastion ssh \]; }; How can we setup tho…

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## [Flox install not installing latest versions?](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/flox-install-not-installing-latest-versions/1026)

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**Author:** [@kendallm](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/kendallm)\
**Replies:** 5\
**Last updated:** [April 28, 2025, 12:04pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/flox-install-not-installing-latest-versions/1026 "2025-04-28T12:04:48Z")

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I’m trying to install a pkg using flox and it doesn’t seem to be installing the latest version available by default. I’m trying to install FZF and by default its giving me an old version. ~/development ❯❯❯ flox install…

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## [Startup time for default environment slow](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/startup-time-for-default-environment-slow/1078)

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**Author:** [@kendallm](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/kendallm)\
**Replies:** 3\
**Last updated:** [February 19, 2025, 11:31am UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/startup-time-for-default-environment-slow/1078 "2025-02-19T11:31:16Z")

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I’ve been using flox significantly and have been trying to replace homebrew with flox. I have a default environment with all of the tools I use, but activating my default environment with every new window is pretty slow …

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## [JavaFX on Flox given no overlays](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/javafx-on-flox-given-no-overlays/1059)

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**Author:** [@Maximilien\_McDermott](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/Maximilien_McDermott)\
**Replies:** 1\
**Last updated:** [January 26, 2025, 7:43pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/javafx-on-flox-given-no-overlays/1059 "2025-01-26T19:43:40Z")

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What is the best way to go about providing a Java version with JavaFX in a flox environment? In nix, I would use an overlay to override the enableJavaFX flag. In Flox, I don’t believe this is an option. I know Zulu usua…

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## [Oh really? Ok, let's use flox](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/oh-really-ok-lets-use-flox/488)

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**Author:** [@etorreborre](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/etorreborre)\
**Replies:** 3\
**Last updated:** [January 21, 2025, 10:03am UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/oh-really-ok-lets-use-flox/488 "2025-01-21T10:03:04Z")

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Here is a little session ± gcloud auth login …

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## [Prior activation of the environment failed to start, or completed](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/prior-activation-of-the-environment-failed-to-start-or-completed/1031)

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**Author:** [@kendallm](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/kendallm)\
**Replies:** 5\
**Last updated:** [January 10, 2025, 8:15pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/prior-activation-of-the-environment-failed-to-start-or-completed/1031 "2025-01-10T20:15:41Z")

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Ive seen this error pop up on 2 different machines now with my default environment which causes packages to not be loaded when starting a new shell. Any idea what causes this? My fix so far has been to uninstall and rei…

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## [Link custom nix package build to Flox environment](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/link-custom-nix-package-build-to-flox-environment/1043)

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**Author:** [@Maximilien\_McDermott](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/Maximilien_McDermott)\
**Replies:** 3\
**Last updated:** [January 9, 2025, 5:30pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/link-custom-nix-package-build-to-flox-environment/1043 "2025-01-09T17:30:28Z")

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Hi! I’m looking into Flox as a way to onboard my less nix-familiar team members to a Nix environment. I really like it so far! The sticking point in terms of a missing feature that I can’t find in the docs is how to incl…

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## [List packages which could be upgraded if given their own group](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/list-packages-which-could-be-upgraded-if-given-their-own-group/1016)

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**Author:** [@bmc](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/bmc)\
**Replies:** 1\
**Last updated:** [January 7, 2025, 6:59pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/list-packages-which-could-be-upgraded-if-given-their-own-group/1016 "2025-01-07T18:59:19Z")

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Basically, I’m building my default environment and I want to make sure I have the latest version of every package. Which ones need to go in their own groups? Is there an automated way to figure this out? Would the stora…

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## [Installing Go package](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/installing-go-package/969)

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**Author:** [@mhirn](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/mhirn)\
**Replies:** 4\
**Last updated:** [September 12, 2024, 8:14pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/installing-go-package/969 "2024-09-12T20:14:27Z")

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Hey - I’m trying to setup our monorepo environment, we depend on this go package (GitHub - grafana/cuetsy: Experimental CUE-\>TypeScript exporter) and I can’t find it via flox search cuetsy --all. The docs said I should r…

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## [NodeJS with vite, vue and vuetify](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/nodejs-with-vite-vue-and-vuetify/961)

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**Author:** [@thibaultvdb](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/thibaultvdb)\
**Replies:** 2\
**Last updated:** [September 4, 2024, 12:50pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/nodejs-with-vite-vue-and-vuetify/961 "2024-09-04T12:50:12Z")

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Hi, I’m trying to get a dev environment up and running with these tools installed. Node and vue are available in the flox installer, but the other two npm packages aren’t. I’m not sure how to proceed from here. Just ins…

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## [Installing older version of package than available?](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/installing-older-version-of-package-than-available/757)

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**Author:** [@anon59756714](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/anon59756714)\
**Replies:** 8\
**Last updated:** [March 18, 2024, 10:47pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/installing-older-version-of-package-than-available/757 "2024-03-18T22:47:50Z")

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Due to how flox packages work, there are 3 stabilities. But what if I want to install really old package that is not in there? Is there an option to subscribe to nixpkgs? There is a community tool to find which nixpkgs …

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## [Installing Flox in a (Singularity) container](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/installing-flox-in-a-singularity-container/845)

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**Author:** [@Gavin\_Kelly](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/Gavin_Kelly)\
**Replies:** 2\
**Last updated:** [March 18, 2024, 5:35pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/installing-flox-in-a-singularity-container/845 "2024-03-18T17:35:42Z")

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I’m attempting to use Flox on an HPC system (so no root permissions). Rather than just use the existing ghcr.io/flox/flox one, I’d like to add flox to our standard one, which I’m naively attempting by having: …

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## [Not being able to run flox upgrade, catalog is down now? (0.3.4)](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/not-being-able-to-run-flox-upgrade-catalog-is-down-now-0-3-4/835)

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**Author:** [@anon59756714](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/anon59756714)\
**Replies:** 3\
**Last updated:** [March 11, 2024, 7:10pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/not-being-able-to-run-flox-upgrade-catalog-is-down-now-0-3-4/835 "2024-03-11T19:10:38Z")

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warning: error: unable to download ‘https://catalog.floxsdlc.com/api/v3/repos/flox/nixpkgs-flox/tarball/8f0471260248bb073194b547982ae4d32999111c’: Timeout was reached (28); retrying in 291 I am still using 0.3.4 as the …

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## [\`flox install .\` builds package but does not include it into environment?](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/flox-install-builds-package-but-does-not-include-it-into-environment/807)

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**Author:** [@anon59756714](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/anon59756714)\
**Replies:** 3\
**Last updated:** [October 10, 2023, 7:08pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/flox-install-builds-package-but-does-not-include-it-into-environment/807 "2023-10-10T19:08:07Z")

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I built an own package based on spotify\_player and it builds under flox build successfuly, flox run also works. I tried to run flox install . and it does installation but flox list shows nothing. I tried adding package n…

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## [Is there a way to start pure shell for a development of new package?](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/is-there-a-way-to-start-pure-shell-for-a-development-of-new-package/806)

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**Author:** [@anon59756714](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/anon59756714)\
**Replies:** 1\
**Last updated:** [October 10, 2023, 3:41pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/is-there-a-way-to-start-pure-shell-for-a-development-of-new-package/806 "2023-10-10T15:41:36Z")

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I normally love the impure shells that extend the tools available on the system. However, I am working on a new package that others should be able to install. If I enter flox develop, everything is going well but command…

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## [A weird python install](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/a-weird-python-install/504)

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**Author:** [@etorreborre](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/etorreborre)\
**Replies:** 15\
**Last updated:** [August 23, 2023, 8:04am UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/a-weird-python-install/504 "2023-08-23T08:04:30Z")

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Hi, I tried to install python3 and got the following ~/projects/rust/ockam on develop ± flox install -e ockam python3 …

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## [Flox develop forcing bash instead of current shell?](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/flox-develop-forcing-bash-instead-of-current-shell/782)

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**Author:** [@anon59756714](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/anon59756714)\
**Replies:** 6\
**Last updated:** [August 16, 2023, 6:35pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/flox-develop-forcing-bash-instead-of-current-shell/782 "2023-08-16T18:35:05Z")

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My setup currently works like this: bash is a login shell, it set’s few base variables and then activates flox default environment and execs into zsh that was set up by Flox. This way I can keep Flox managing zsh. This…

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## [Stability missing from flox search?](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/stability-missing-from-flox-search/763)

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**Author:** [@anon59756714](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/anon59756714)\
**Replies:** 1\
**Last updated:** [August 10, 2023, 9:34pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/stability-missing-from-flox-search/763 "2023-08-10T21:34:15Z")

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I was not understanding why flox upgrade did not bump a version of yq-go to newest that has some nice patches. I used flox search -l yq-go to see if new version is available and it was. But it seems by default packages a…

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## [Flox nixpkgs update interval](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/flox-nixpkgs-update-interval/751)

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**Author:** [@fleimgruber](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/fleimgruber)\
**Replies:** 2\
**Last updated:** [June 8, 2023, 12:10pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/flox-nixpkgs-update-interval/751 "2023-06-08T12:10:58Z")

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(flox v0.2.0-r474) When flox developing a project I want to use packages from nixpkgs 22.11 channel with backports. But flox tells me this: ... • Updated input 'flox-floxpkgs/nixpkgs/nixpkgs': follows 'flox-floxpkg…

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## [Is there native approach to \`flox nix store gc\`?](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/is-there-native-approach-to-flox-nix-store-gc/743)

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**Author:** [@anon59756714](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/anon59756714)\
**Replies:** 3\
**Last updated:** [May 11, 2023, 6:45pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/is-there-native-approach-to-flox-nix-store-gc/743 "2023-05-11T18:45:53Z")

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I wanted to free up some space and ran this command. It “cleaned up” over 50% of space so maybe it did free up something more than needed (older generations?) but so far I do not see issues. I am happy with current gener…

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## [Any downsides on using flakes directly?](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/any-downsides-on-using-flakes-directly/738)

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**Author:** [@anon59756714](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/anon59756714)\
**Replies:** 1\
**Last updated:** [May 4, 2023, 3:15pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/any-downsides-on-using-flakes-directly/738 "2023-05-04T15:15:34Z")

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I had the case that “gimme-aws-creds” was updated 2 days ago and it has some fixes I need. Flox packages seem to be on a 2-week cycle so I just flox subscribed to Nike-Inc/gimme-aws-creds and I have a new version with “g…

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## [Dream2nix integration?](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/dream2nix-integration/731)

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**Author:** [@anon59756714](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/anon59756714)\
**Replies:** 1\
**Last updated:** [April 19, 2023, 4:03pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/dream2nix-integration/731 "2023-04-19T16:03:10Z")

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I tried to package very simple project, very similar to hello-python with flox and I couldn’t do it. I copied each files one-by-one from example to new folder , renamed and still couldn’t do it, even if branch pre-flox w…

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## [Why we have to keep separation on env and shell(develop)?](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/why-we-have-to-keep-separation-on-env-and-shell-develop/700)

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**Author:** [@anon59756714](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/anon59756714)\
**Replies:** 3\
**Last updated:** [March 28, 2023, 8:35pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/why-we-have-to-keep-separation-on-env-and-shell-develop/700 "2023-03-28T20:35:02Z")

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I stumbled across this problem and it seems to be specific to nix - Reddit - Dive into anything Unless I code in nix-shell, then CC won’t be set and running gem install in activated environment and in flox develop are p…

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## [Multi-package rust project](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/multi-package-rust-project/569)

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**Author:** [@etorreborre](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/etorreborre)\
**Replies:** 15\
**Last updated:** [March 6, 2023, 4:23pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/multi-package-rust-project/569 "2023-03-06T16:23:10Z")

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Hi, I would like to floxify a rust project with multiple packages. I am not sure if flox init is doing the right thing here because when I try to modify default.nix to add something like the RUST\_SRC\_PATH = "${rustPlatf…

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## [Publishing my first Haskell executable](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/publishing-my-first-haskell-executable/477)

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**Author:** [@etorreborre](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/etorreborre)\
**Replies:** 23\
**Last updated:** [March 3, 2023, 4:10pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/publishing-my-first-haskell-executable/477 "2023-03-03T16:10:15Z")

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I am attempting to wander into deeper waters now. I have forked a Haskell executable called cmt: GitHub - etorreborre/cmt: Write consistent git commit messages based on a custom template I have called flox init I hav…

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## [Bad GitHub credentials](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/bad-github-credentials/660)

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**Author:** [@jacob](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/jacob)\
**Replies:** 2\
**Last updated:** [February 10, 2023, 9:41am UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/bad-github-credentials/660 "2023-02-10T09:41:14Z")

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I suspect this is something to do with my setup existing on the beta and getting into a weird state but when I attempt to update, I’m getting a bad credentials exception from the GitHub API calls. Suspecting this was si…

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## [It is possible to floxify a project without committing the flake files to the project](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/it-is-possible-to-floxify-a-project-without-committing-the-flake-files-to-the-project/619)

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**Author:** [@etorreborre](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/etorreborre)\
**Replies:** 6\
**Last updated:** [January 31, 2023, 1:29pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/it-is-possible-to-floxify-a-project-without-committing-the-flake-files-to-the-project/619 "2023-01-31T13:29:11Z")

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Hi, I want to share a trick that I just discovered. You might want to try out flox on a repository but you don’t want yet to commit the flake files and share them with your teammates. You can do what is suggested here: …

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## [Losing my aliases on \`flox develop\`](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/losing-my-aliases-on-flox-develop/627)

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**Author:** [@etorreborre](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/etorreborre)\
**Replies:** 9\
**Last updated:** [January 28, 2023, 12:55pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/losing-my-aliases-on-flox-develop/627 "2023-01-28T12:55:23Z")

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When I start flox develop in a given project I am currently losing the aliases which were instantiated with my .zshrc setup. In particular I have quite a lot of git shortcuts which I use all the time. Is there a hook on f…

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